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Inspo Raises $5.5 Million to Launch Creator-Driven Media Revolution

SEATTLE, Wash., June 13, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Inspo Network, a Creator-driven media company focused on the $50 billion lifestyle market, today announced $5.5 million in Seed funding led by PSL Ventures with participation from a number of media and technology leaders, including Rich Barton, Nick Hanauer through Second Avenue Partners, Clark Kokich, and Dan Levitan.

Inspo’s Creators are premier, nationally-recognized influencers in the Home, Food, Fitness, and DIY categories. Inspo helps Creators inspire their audiences through original, premium video experiences. In its first year, Inspo’s video platform created more than 2,000 original, short-form television-quality shows reaching more than 120 million loyal viewers. Inspo's video platform enables Brands to integrate their products into Creator videos with ease, certainty and scale.

"Technology is enabling the world's category experts to become next generation media powerhouses and Inspo makes it easy to deliver personalized, hyper-targeted video content to hundreds of millions of engaged fans," said Rich Barton, an Inspo investor and founder of Expedia, Zillow, and Glassdoor. "By bringing ‘power to the people’ in this massive category, Inspo is reimagining the media value chain and challenging traditional studio-based models."

Inspo was co-founded by Pete Christothoulou, a technology veteran who was previously co-founder and CEO of Marchex, and his wife Heather Christothoulou, a nationally-recognized author and Creator. The idea for Inspo sprung from the frustrations Heather and her peers experienced creating premium video content, growing their reach, and partnering with Brands.

“Inspo serves a massive need for the world’s leading Creators, as well as for consumer Brands who want to reach tuned-in buyers at scale. Video is the fastest growing digital media format and the preferred way for today’s modern storytellers to reach and engage their followers, yet it’s extremely difficult for a Creator to do well. Inspo changes that,” said Mike Galgon, Managing Director of PSL Ventures.

With this funding, Inspo has appointed three new Directors to its Board, including: Mike Galgon, PSL co-founder and former aQuantive co-founder; Rob Norman, former Chief Digital Officer at GroupM and Chairman of GroupM North America; and Clark Kokich, former Razorfish Chairman and CEO.

“The future of media looks like thousands of category-expert Creators inspiring hundreds of millions of engaged fans through visual experiences available anywhere,” said Pete Christothoulou, Inspo co-founder and CEO. “Solving the core problems for Creators and Brands is critical to making this future a reality.”

About InspoInspo is a Creator-driven media company transforming the $50B lifestyle market for creators, consumers, and brands. Inspo helps leading Creators inspire their audiences through original, short-form premium video experiences. Its video platform creates thousands of original, television-quality shows reaching more than 120 million loyal viewers. Inspo enables Brands to integrate their products into Creator videos with ease, certainty and scale. Learn more about Inspo at www.insponetwork.com.

About PSL VenturesPSL Ventures is a Seattle-based venture fund that invests in early-stage technology startups. It is a part of Pioneer Square Labs, which operates a startup studio to create and launch new companies. For more information, visit www.psl.com